As December began we reported
on the imminent sectioning of the brain of Henry Molaison, or H.M., whose inability
to form new memories has fascinated neuroscientists for decades. Many other
articles, both about H.M. specifically and memory more generally, have appeared
in the weeks since the sectioning.

Dana’s Brain
in the News advisor, Guy McKhann, made H.M. the subject of his December
commentary. McKhann provides a neuroscientist’s first-person perspective on
why the continuing study of Molaison’s brain is important.

In addition to the San
Diego Union-Tribunearticle
we mentioned in our initial coverage, the Hartford
Courant published an in-depth
piece about Molaison on Nov. 29. On Dec. 4, after the sectioning had begun,
a public radio program in San Diego featured a conversation
with researcher Jacopo Annese of the University of California, San Diego (who
was in charge of the sectioning) and Dana Alliance member Suzanne Corkin of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (who studied Molaison extensively during
his life and wrote
briefly about him in a 2008 Cerebrumbook review). CNN also posted a story
that day about Molaison.

Just this week, the New
York Timespublished
a piece that focuses less on Molaison and more on the dissection technique,
which resulted in about 2,500 paper-thin slices of the brain. The scientists in
charge plan to extend the process to many other donated brains, both normal and
abnormal, and put up digital reproductions of slices online for access by
researchers worldwide. This combination of precision and accessibility should
open new doors in the study of brain anatomy, the researchers say.